<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Castle by Dark_Earl</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29681529">Castle</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dark_Earl/pseuds/Dark_Earl'>Dark_Earl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Palpatine x Obi-Wan: Arranged marriage AU [21]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aesthetics, Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe of an Alternate Universe, Arranged Marriage, Empire Day, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Negotiations, Politics, Sheev Palpatine is nice, Songfic, fanon divergence, obisheev</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 01:08:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,294</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29681529</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dark_Earl/pseuds/Dark_Earl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Alternative ending of <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29518635/chapters/72526437">"Revenge of the Sith"</a>.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Obi-Wan Kenobi &amp; Sheev Palpatine, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Sheev Palpatine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Palpatine x Obi-Wan: Arranged marriage AU [21]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1927522</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Castle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>
    <i>I'm headed straight for the castle</i><br/>
<i>They wanna make me their queen</i><br/>
<i>And there's an old man sitting on the throne</i><br/>
<i>That's saying that I probably shouldn't be so mean </i>
  </p>
  <p>
    <i>Halsey — Castle</i>
  </p>
</div><p> </p><p>He stood waiting in the middle of a spacious and empty living room, whose huge windows were closed with heavy blinds for the sole purpose of protecting from reporters. All the belongings had already been transported, and only on the bare red wall was a large screen on which the news went silently. Two reporters in formal attire recounted the events of the past three months.</p><p>A knock on the door jamb.</p><p>“Are you ready?” Commander Fox asked.</p><p>Obi-Wan nodded, then turned off the TV and followed Fox out into the empty hallway.</p><p>The 500 Republica building was deserted - all those who lived here were invited to the ceremony and departed in advance.</p><p>Obi-Wan, in a white uniform with a long white cloak, surrounded by a squad of clones in red and white armor, strode ceremoniously towards the open hangar, the sound of their footsteps drowning in the thick carpet. It was so calm and quiet here; no journalists were allowed into the building, who were quite tiresome — Obi-Wan had been frankly tired of them over the past week, and he wanted to enjoy this calmness one last time before he was outside.</p><p>When they reached the door separating them from the hangar, Obi-Wan slowed down and stopped.</p><p>“Sir?”</p><p>He hesitated, even though he knew he had no choice now. Nevertheless, he wanted to postpone this moment a little more, to stay a little longer in peace and quiet.</p><p>Then he took a deep breath and nodded.</p><p>The door opened; Obi-Wan was momentarily blinded by the bright midday sun and a solemn buzz in the Force; however, he proudly straightened up, raised his head and walked at a steady pace towards the new model shuttle, ready for takeoff. Its triangular wings were folded together upward; there also were four single-seat fighters that would accompany him. To the sound of the wind, the clicks of the camera shutters and the hum of journalistic drones hovering above them, Obi-Wan boarded the shuttle with some of the soldiers, not allowing himself to relax. The ramp closed behind them, the pilots took their places, Obi-Wan sat in a rather soft passenger seat. The engines started, and their small procession took off and slowly headed towards the former Jedi Temple, now the Imperial Palace.</p><p>Three months ago, when the Jedi came to arrest him, he almost died. However, Anakin managed to at least slightly heal his deep wound in his side, preventing him from dying. And when Obi-Wan, overcoming the pain, stood up and saw that Palpatine was ready to finish off unarmed Master Windu, he knew that he had to do at least something.</p><p>Three months ago, he convinced the Sith to spare the Jedi in exchange for his own public support in his favor.</p><p>And Palpatine agreed. He knew that he had won his game, and now he had to think about new goals. THeir open disagreements on political issues always worked in the favor of both of them. Now, if Obi-Wan publicly sided with him, it would be easy for the people to accept the idea that the Jedi were traitors and that the only way out of the situation was to create an Empire and protect it from any encroachment on power.</p><p>Three months ago, Obi-Wan thought it was a good idea.</p><p>Three months ago, the Jedi were given a choice - to leave alive or stay, but renounce the teachings of the Order and pledge allegiance to the Emperor and the throne. Master Yoda accepted defeat with great difficulty, but agreed to take the Jedi away on condition that they would take with them all the archives and accumulated knowledge stored in the Temple. When Obi-Wan asked, Palpatine agreed to that too.</p><p>The Jedi, with the exception of the few who chose to stay, gradually fled Coruscant and the Empire, where they were immediately outlawed</p><p>Obi-Wan stood up for Anakin as well. He didn’t want the young man to accept the Dark side and begged him to leave with the Jedi, but he refused and accepted Palpatine's offer to become his apprentice. It broke and warmed Obi-Wan's heart at the same time; and every time he and Anakin saw each other, the young man always smiled happily and continued to repeat to him that everything would be fine and that he didn’t regret his choice.</p><p>Obi-Wan looked out the shuttle window, down to see tens of thousands of Coruscans and other visitors gathered on the main avenues for the ceremony. They shouted and waved at the shuttle passing by, and Obi-Wan felt powerful waves of delight and admiration in the Force, in stark contrast to his own, slightly distracted mood.</p><p>Three months ago, he convinced Sheev to spare the Jedi. And a little later, ideas began to emerge among the people and the media about making him an emperor on an equal footing with Palpatine.</p><p>Apparently inspired by the example of Melida/Daan with two rulers instead of one, as was usually the case, the former Republicans decided that it would be nice to transfer the family ties to the state system.</p><p>When Obi-Wan talked about people’s support, he didn’t expect it to be so... so great.</p><p>Palpatine didn’t oppose the idea, on the contrary. He and Obi-Wan sat down at the negotiating table again and discussed the situation at length. And they came to an agreement: technically, they would have equal rights, and all government documents must be signed by both of them, but Palpatine has a decisive voice in the case of a crisis and command of the armies.</p><p>As long as Sheev Palpatine and Obi-Wan Kenobi find compromises, the system would run like clockwork.</p><p>The building of the former Jedi Temple approached inexorably. Obi-Wan could already see the wide passage to the front staircase, the red carpet and the even rows of clones along it, separating the central section from the myriad of onlookers. When they went closer, the crowd stirred, like a living sea, and the wave turned first in his direction; and then, the other way around, rushed towards the central entrance, from where another small procession appeared. Palpatine, in the same white uniform with a long cloak, behind him Anakin's high black spot and ten soldiers in white and red armor. Together they began to slowly descend the stairs to the cheers of the crowd.</p><p>Obi-Wan chuckled - Anakin flatly refused to wear white, but perhaps it was even for the best. He couldn’t help but admit that this procession looked very impressive even from a height of flight.</p><p>Over the years, a lot has changed: the war passed, the Jedi Order, which had served the Republic for thousands of years, was gone; the Republic itself became the Empire. But Palpatine's love for performances and ceremonies was still strong.</p><p>He suddenly thought that the upcoming coronation ceremony would be very similar to their long-standing wedding one. Just like many years ago, they would have to walk hand in hand down to the altar and swear allegiance to each other and the Empire.</p><p>Obi-Wan's shuttle landed softly. There were only a few last moments before he was to go outside. He took a deep breath, stood up and straightened his uniform, which would soon be adorned with a diagonal red sash - the symbol of the Imperial family.</p><p>When the shuttle ramp got down, Obi-Wan, stunned by the cries of the crowd and blinded by the bright glow of the midday sun and flashes of cameras, smiled and went down the red carpet to meet his spouse and the Emperor.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Initially, there were two more detailed scenes: the one where Obi-Wan asks Sheev to spare Mace Windu and the Jedi Order, and the second one with dialogue between Sheev and Yoda. But they didn't really fit the mood of the work.</p><p>Sooooo yes, Obi-Wan became an emperor consort :3<br/>Basically, in the new Empire they have these 3 titles: Emperor, Emperor consort and Apprentice-Protector (this one is for Anakin). And the new law states that in case of emperor's death, the apprentice and not the consort will become a new emperor (thus Anakin is a literal heir to the throne, yes). What can I say, Sheev likes to play with fire.<br/>In addition, he won't actually rule his empire, he will pass his time in researches for lost sith knowledge and stuff, leaving all the ruling to Obi-Wan. He will also train Anakin in the ways of the Dark Side, and Obi-Wan will teach him politics (the boy is the heir, so yes, he must endure :D)</p><p>Also I headcanon that Obi-Wan will scare the shit out of everyone with his unexpected visits and checkups. Like, if your whatever factory isn't working properly and Obi-Wan suddenly decides to check up on you, you are in a biiiiig big trouble. Just imagine that scene from Episode VI where Vader arrives on the Death star and tells them that the Emperor is coming - same shit but WITHOUT announcing, Obi-Wan is just suddenly already here &gt;3. Common people adores him for that.</p><p>Anyway, one more work left for this AU :3</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>